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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Tips and Tricks- Part 2!

I'm overwhelmed by all of your kind words and emails asking for more tips and ideas, and for all of the wonderful tips you have left for me. I'm going to try and make it a semi-regular thing here at In This Crazy Life; because lets face it we can all use a little help sometimes!!

I also had lots of questions asking if you could Pin this/feature this/share this- and the answer is of course you can! The more help I can be, the better!!

If you left a tip for me, but left it anonymously, then I cant give you credit- but if your name was there Ill certainly let the world know it was from you. If it came from another source, click the picture and it will take you there!

1. Donna from over at As The Card Rack Turns shared some great tips in her This, That and The Other Post- this one is my fave! Use a dish drainer to organize pot lids, or Tupperware lids in a cabinet. You can find them in all sizes now, to fit almost any cabinet, and they are super cheap at the dollar store!

2. A wonderful person left me a sweet note telling me that a professional chef uses lemon juice and salt to clean their aluminum cookware...if its good enough for a chef, its worth giving a shot!

3. You know how you never get all of the mascara out of the tube before it dries out? I saw on Pinterest that you can add 4-5 drops of saline solution, insert the wand, stir it up and tah-dah! You can do this 3 or 4 times or until you use up all of the mascara.

4. The hubs uses this at work all of the time. When Painters tape gets dry and hard to peel off, pop it in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds. A little heat reactivates the glue and it works like a charm.

5. Kim told me in the comments section that Dawn gets any grease stain out, even after it has gone through the dryer!

6. A sweet lovey told me her Grandma stores lettuce in the waxpaper bag from inside a cereal box, and it lasts twice as long. Nothing beats a tip from a Grammy!

7. Cut a slit in your empty toilet paper rolls and slip them over rolls of wrapping paper to keep everything nice and neat. You can use a piece of tape to make it smaller for thinner rolls, and it keeps the paper from getting all messed up!

8. If the grout in your kitchen or bath is getting a little funky, and its light in color, you can buy Emery Cloth (sold in the pluming aisle) and sand it down lightly to get rid of stains. Then apply a grout sealer to prevent any more staining. This works best if you have sanded grout, according to the hubs.

9. To prevent hair and dirt from sticking to your baseboards, after cleaning them rub a dryer sheet over the surface. The fabric softener will help to repel dirt. Just remember to re-apply every so often!

10. Good old Martha taught us that rather than buying those ridiculously expensive anti-slip mats for a rug, just turn it over and run a few lines of acrylic-latex caulk every 6 inches or so. Let dry and flip over and your rug wont be going anywhere!

11. To keep stainless steel appliances clean, use a little bit of baby oil on a soft cloth and buff into the surface. Then wipe clean with a dry cloth. It prevents fingerprints from sticking to the surface. If you dont have baby oil, use some Pledge. Bonus for the lemony-fresh scent!

12. LKBridges told me that you can use vinegar and crumpled newspaper to clean windows with no streaks.

13. Picked this one up from Rachel Ray- cook bacon in the oven rather than in a skillet. Pop it onto a tray and bake at 400 for 10 minutes to ensure that all of the bacon gets done at the same time, plus, no bacon grease to get everywhere!

14. Jes left me a tip on how to get rid of water marks on wood furniture. Use a hairdryer on a low setting to dry the water out that is stuck between the layers of varnish. She said it works best on fresh stains, but it can work on old ones as well!

15. A sweet blogger who must know how cheap I am left me the tip that you can reuse the foaming soap dispensers. Simply fill them with water and a teaspoon of antibacterial dish soap and voila. Instant cheap refill!

16. Another fun use for wax paper from a reader- slide it on the bar in your closet to make hangers slide oh-so-nice. I gave this a try and it worked like a charm!

17. Baking soda and vinegar will do a multitude of things in the kitchen. Use it as a drain cleaner, to clean the tops of glass top stoves, or to clean the grease off of the bottom of an oven. Just put the baking soda down first, then add a splash of vinegar and let the chemical reaction do the work for you. (This will also make a heck of a volcanic explosion- just add a little orange dish soap and red food coloring to make the lava!)

18. The lovey lady from Maw Maw's Rocking chair left us a few of her faves: spraying the car door seals with baking spray prevents freezing in cold weather; car wax also works great to keep fiberglass tubs shiny, and makes them resist soap scum; use toothpaste, not scouring powder on cast iron tubs to avoid scratching the enamel; polishing with car wax in bathroom sinks keeps toothpaste from sticking; coca cola is a great toilet cleaner; and my favorite, wrapping fridge shelves with plastic wrap cuts down on cleaning time when little hands spill things. (Congrats on your grand baby to be!!)

19. This works wonders for warts- instead of spending tons of cash on the special band aids, just take a square of duck tape and cover the wart. It cuts off all of the oxygen and kills it without having to put that burning liquid on.

20. From Lunchinabox.net, when you buy the super packs of ground meat. Bring home and put into gallon zip lock bags, then use a ruler to create divisions within the food, forming individual portions. This way when you freeze the entire bag, you’ll be able to quickly break off just as much as you want to use, no more.

21. Did you know that weeds will not grow through wet newspaper? I saw this on Pinterest, and backed it up from BHandG. When planting flowers mix up the dirt, then place a thick layer of wet newspapers down around the plants. Then cover with your top soil and mulch. Apparently weeds can get through plastic, but not this stuff. (I wouldn't know, I can only get weeds to grow- I kill pretty much everything else!)

22. Instead of buying expensive hangers to keep wide necked and silky tops from falling off- just take out your glue gun and make a zigzag pattern on the top of the hangers where the clothes would normally hang.

23. Found this on Pinterest and did myself a little happy dance. You can wash and reuse your cricut mats. Just buy a cheap scrubber from the dollar store- the kind that does NOT have metal in it. The plastic kind. Then use water and a drop of dish-soap and scrub quite vigorously. Wipe off the excess water and allow them to air dry and they should be like brand new. Ill be trying this tonight for sure.

24. Also from Pinterest- Bar Keepers Friend Liquid Cleanser and powdered cleanser will remove scratches from dishes. According to the lovely over at Outnumbered the blog, it took her plain white dishes from old to new again. All she did was apply a bit to a wet sponge and use some elbow grease, and they look fantastic!

25. Use conditioner to shave your legs. Not only is it cheaper, but it is ALOT more moisturizing, so your legs wont be all dry and itchy after you finish shaving.

26. Reheat pizza in a skillet on the stove to make an extra crispy crust.

27. To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle on a little cayenne pepper. It wont hurt the plant and the squirrels wont come near it.

28. From Real Simple to get baked-on food off a glass pan or an oven rack, use dish washing liquid and a ball of foil in place of a steel-wool soap pad, to get baked-on food off a glass pan or an oven rack, use dish washing liquid and a ball of foil in place of a steel-wool soap pad. Its a great way to reuse the clean side of foil.

29. Line your fridge shelves with Glad Press and Seal paper. Just press down to create a seal that will keep your shelves nice and clean!

30. A piece of chalk placed into your silverware bag will draw in moisture and prevent the silver from tarnishing.

31. Real Simple comes through again- to get the gunk off of the bottom of your Iron, place it on a low setting and run it over a dryer sheet until the residue disappears.

32. To remove small stains from suede by gently rubbing the file (either side) across the problem area a few times to get rid of the splotch and refresh the nap.

33. The next time you have green onions, don't throw away the white ends. Simply put them in a glass of water (make sure they are submerged!) and place them in a sunny window. They grow super quick and you can grow as many as you want.

34. Make your own microwave popcorn- just place 1/2 cup of corn kernels into a brown paper bag. Fold the top over two or three times and pop it into the microwave on high on your popcorn setting. Or if yours doesn't have one of those, pop it in for three or so minutes and stop when the popping noise slows to every 1 or 2 seconds. Then you can take it out and add your own toppings. Fresh butter and garlic salt, or fresh grated parm cheese in this house. Yummm.

578 comments:

I work as a traveling nurse and the best thing to get out blood stains is putting some hydrogen peroxide on the stain, the bubbles help pull the stain out. Then rinse out throughly and wash by it's self with some bleach or color safe bleach. Also, sometimes while working during my shift the uniforms will pick up certain odors. As soon as the shift is over change your clothes right away and put them in a zip lock or grocery bag with a dryer sheet and seal tight. When you get home, wash immediately, but they won't smell!

The best thing for getting out blood is spit. Enzymes in saliva break down protein. Just think of some nice juice hamburger, and then spit on the blood spot. When you wash the clothes, the blood will come right out. This is an old quilter's trick (sometimes they hit their fingers with needle...)

my dog had a cut on his foot and left little blood prints all over the carpet. I called the floor cleaning guy that my apartment uses and he just said use cold water. it totally worked. just went around with a bucket of cold water, washcloth and some elbow grease. for other pet stains, I use Out brand oxy-cleaner, which I found in the pet aisle of walmart, and purina oxy-spray. both work well for pet stains.

Folex gets everything out of anything.. old dried blood on a white shirt.. not a problem! Also use it when the dog throws up on the carpet. Or when soda is spilt on carpet. Love the stuff and its cheap!

Milk works on blood stains too! Even dried ones! Just let it soak for an hour or so! Peroxide also works on animal stains! My cat was violently ill awhile back, used peroxide as a pretreatment before I shampooed and it was gone in 20 minutes!

Your own spit is a natural stain remover for your own blood, not necessarily for any blood in general. And it's really only feasible for small amounts of blood, hence the reason why it's GREAT for quilting and other needlework. I wouldn't recommend anyone start trying to spit on their carpet or clothes to remove large blood stains, especially if it's not your blood! There are many other options, as listed above! And I've found OxyClean and similar cleaners are fantastic at removing biological stains and odors, both human and pet.

I once had a bad burn on my chest that would bleed overnight due to the bandages moving. Sometimes I would wake up and my shirt would be covered in blood. On a whim, I tried scrubbing it with a Magic Eraser (it works on everything else, right?) and water and it worked like a charm. Wasn't expecting that AT ALL, but it took the dried blood stain out like a charm every time! :)

Great ideas! Here's another that I'm not sure if you wrote about yet. I just did this yesterday, so it's fresh in my old mind..ha! If you have a candle to light that is in a deep votive or holder, and don't have any long matches, light a piece of dry spaghetti and use that to light it. Also I just saw, on Pinterest I think, that if you rub your faucets with wax paper, there won't be any more water spots.

In the summer when you are hanging out on your patio, if you take regular Listerine and put it in a spray bottle and spray the perimeter of your patio (or area you are in ie: front porch, pool etc) it keeps the mosquitos away :) And while Im thinking of it, I have 3 large dogs. When its raining I want to go crazy if my dogs jump on my light colored furniture (they arent allowed on it period but c'mon, theyre dogs and listen like kids lol) I take aluminum foil and put it across my couch and loveseat and they WILL NOT get on the furniture. Both work cuz I've tried em both. ABSOLUTELY fantastic post... thank you so much :) Kelly Jackson Whalen <3

Yes, the foil works for my dogs too, I've heard cats hate it to. If you want to keep them out of a room you can just lay foil in the doorway, they wont cross it. I have pieces under my bed so my dogs would stop going under there to escape discipline or secretly eat an old kleenex from the trash (or one of the other hundreds of things they know they arent supposed to get in to.

Are you Serious?? I am so excited to read this. My 12 year old cat loves my bed....I however don't want him to love it. Do I fold the foil at the door or lay it unfolded? WOW... gonna try this!! Thanks!

Well we have attempted the Listerine a few times but it worked slightly, where we go camping anything is better than nothing but one downside of it is that my dogs try to lick it and eat whatever it was sprayed on and that ends pretty badly.

Foil can work but if you have it in a doorway it might be harder, mine got smart enough to the point where they would just jump over the foil.

pour carbonated soda(I use pepsi that has gone flat)into bowl.saturate old dish cloth in the soda,wring out and wipe your windows,then spray window cleaner over window and clean window with a paper towel.No streaks on your windows.

I use baby oil for shaving my legs and have not had a cut or razor burn since I started using it. Leaves skin silky smooth. It can be used in the shower or if your in a hurry on dry legs. It can clog up your razer so you will need to rinse it as you go but I love it. Happy shaving.

I wouldn't use baby oil on stainless kitchen stuff like that, it has perfumes and stuff. Instead, I would simply use mineral oil, which is the base oil used in baby oil anyway. Same stuff, no perfumes or additives.

I work for a company that builds steel materials, stainless steel, carbon steel, etc. WD-40 works well too. Of course not everyone loves the smell, but it prevents fingerprints and no streaks, just like baby oil.

When waxing your eyebrows, top of your lips, etc... if you have run out or don't have any of the cloth left, use a cut up coffee filter. Works great, it's cheap & definitely WILL NOT tear when you go to pull off. I use this all the time!

You can use lemon oil or wd40 to clean stainless steel. Lemon oil with a scrubby to clean water scum on a shower door. Then use carwax to prevent buildup. From pinterest, I tried a citrus furniture polish and it worked great.Be careful cooking bacon in the oven, oil does get everywhere and can start a fire. Believe me, I have had many fires/tons of smoke from bacon grease. But bacon in the oven is yummy. You can sprinkle some brown sugar on it before cooking. TO clean corners of your baseboard or odd crevices, use your blow dryer.Before gardening or doing any dirty work, rub a bar of softened soap under your nails. Afterwards when you wash your hands, your nails are clean and it just washes the soap off.

For The Cricut mat, use Zig glue to re stick the mat. I haven't bought a new mat in 3 years. Also when waxing, you can use orajel on your skin first. It will numb the sensitive area's so you don't feel any pain when pulling the strip off. If you use regular cheap mens shaving cream to clean bathroom mirrors, it will leave it streak free. Use olive oil to remove make-up. It will not clog up pores and it leaves your face feeling soft.

Saw your blog via Pinterest! Really fun to read- but to add to #23, to make them sticky again use spray adhesive. Works really well and a $4 bottle of spray adhesive is cheaper than the sheets, and lasts longer.

Addition to #2, you can also use lemon juice and salt to clean wooden cutting boards. I usually sprinkle coarse salt on the board and scrub with a lemon cut in half. Afterwards just wipe down with a damp, clean cloth and let dry. The salt acts as an abrasive cleanser and the acid in the lemon acts as a disinfectant.

Pampered Chef sells a large stoneware jelly roll sized pan that you can safely bake your bacon in the oven with. I do it all of the time. No grease splatters, no oven fires, no problems, and makes delicious bacon!!

*Keep an old toothbrush in the bathroom to clean hard areas around the faucet.*Buy a small, empty spray bottle from the dollar store for your cooking oil. Use this to lightly spray your skillets instead of buying those expensive PAM sprays.*Use a small hand saw to saw off the plastic clip ends from skirt, pants and shorts hangers. Use these clips to close your chips and pretzel snack bags.*Beach/Camping Vacation Tip: Buy a large inexpensive tote with a lid, like a rubber mate tote. When nonperishable items go on sale (dish soap, bath soap, canned goods, paper towels, etc.) buy them and store them in the tote. Keep a small notebook inside the tote to keep a list of what you've already purchased. This way you're buying items on sale ahead of time instead of spending full price to get things the week before your vacation.

Dollar stores usually have a package of clothes pins in a large amount that can be decorated with left over paints or scrap papers and used as chip clips. You get a LOT more for your $1 investment and they're unique to boot. :0)

409 the house cleaner can also be used as a stain remover on clothing. It can get anything out of any fabric... blood, alcohol, salsa, etc. I even use it on my nice shirts. Apply a generous amount of 409 to the stain, rub the fabric together, apply more 409, let it sit and soak, then throw it in the washing machine. If it doesn't work the first time repeat the process.

Potatoes work on warts as well. An old wives tell says to cut them in half and rub one side on your wart, then to bury each half as far apart as you can throw them. I however, just simply cut it in half then rubbed them all over my warts. I did it twice, a few days apart and it worked like a charm!

*Beach/Camping Vacation tip: Let each child choose 1 drink from the store that has a screw-on lid with a spout that can be opened and closed, such as a gatorade bottle. Peel the labels off and use a permanent marker to write each child's name on their drink. Take these drinks along on vacation. When the child drinks their juice the bottle can be washed and refilled over and over again. This eliminates spills, having to spend money on disposible cups or having to wash cups. This also makes it easy for each child to know which drink is theirs. If the children return the bottles back to the fridge when they still have juice in them, it will save you from having to jump up every hour to pour them a cold drink. I do this in the summer also so my kids always have a cold drink that they can get themselves.

My kids could have a drink of juice whenever they got thirsty. . . provided they had a full glass of water first. In most cases, that was enough. If not, they drank a lot less juice. Water is SO good for them and many kids don't get enough.

I had no problem reading your website and I didn't even have to put on my reading glasses ;-). Your site is filled with useful helpful hint, I can attest to using the uncooked spaghetti to light candles or a flame in hard to reach areas, been doing it for 40 years

on the cricut mat note- early on i found this trick with my cricut- use quilting basting spray to get your mat sticky again. spray some on and leave it for like 10 minutes. if i sprayed too much i will run the mat over my pants to take off some of the stick. i have used the same mat since i bought my cricut 3 years ago until a few months ago ( my lovely mother bought me a set of two 12 X 24 ones yay! also i have read that old cricut mats are great to reuse as the stiff bottom to home made bags and purses! - sabina

Love your tips!!! Please look up the use of antibacterial soap online, you will be surprised that most scientific groups are opposed to its use. Plain soap as effective as antibacterial but without the risk. Antibacterial soaps show no health benefits over plain soaps and, in fact, may render some common antibiotics less effective, says a University of Michigan public health professor. http://www.physorg.com/news106418144.html

Luckily, there are more options not available for non-antibacterial soaps as more people realize what the studies have been warning for years: that anti-bacterials are not beneficial and contribute to more resistant strains of bacteria.

Also, antibacterial soaps are not good for septic systems, since they rely on bacteria to break down the waste. Just use regular soap to wash. You can use hand sanitizer if there is a "germy" situation.

I use Suave Daily Clarifying Shampoo while in the shower to clean my rings, or even after brushing my teeth, I grab my extra toothbrush and put a dab of the shampoo in it. works wonders. Kristi in Dallas

Fill a small (about 3 inch) spray bottle with Listerine (the original, with alcohol). Its handy for mouth spray but especially useful for spraying your toothbrush to disinfect before and after use. It's also handy for travel.Small spray bottles can be found in stores in the sample/travel size sections. I recycled one that was originally used for a throat spray.

I use Avon's Skin so soft to get the grease and dirt grossness off of my range hood. I also use it on my cooktops and knobs. Only problem is that if you use too much, it's very slippery. I hav also found that it removes non toxic paint from ceramic with a little elbow grease. AND, if you save jars from pasta sauce and such, it gets the adhesive off from the label. It's a better alternative than scraping it off or using Acetone. Especially if you just got a manicure!

Mismatched socks are also excellent on the hands of your children for dusting! We have a 3 minute dusting time with them. I play a kid-friendly, fast-paced song & the kids go touch everything they can before the song is over. Whoever has the dirtiest sock wins a special prize. Then we have 2nd & 3rd prizes too. My oldest has learned that the baseboards get her the most dirt & they get dusted very well, while having fun!

GREASED LIGHTNING. you can get it almost anywhere, dollar general, home depot, lowes. this is the only spray i use. even after i wash my work pants and notice there are still grease stains, i spray the spot and wash again and the stain is gone. you can even use it on whites and add bleach to the water. I swear by this stuff.

to soften hard cookies....place in a container that has a lid. place a piece of bread(I use sandwich bread)inside the container and leave over night.In the morning your cookies will be soft and the bread will be hard.

To get spilled wax off carpet, wait for the candle wax to dry, place a paper towel or dish towel over the wax and iron it. The heat of the iron will melt the wax right on to the cloth and off the carpet.

To keep stains from setting into clothes, spray it as quickly as possible with hair spray and launder. This has worked on bright red lipstick all over my daughters pink and white Easter dress (you dont really need to ask now do you?) and I was shocked to see it also worked on bright pink nail polish on my favorite white shirt.

Another tip for water stains on furniture. I had a cold and was using a vaporizer in the bedroom. I filled it in the middle of the night, tired and half awake I spilled some water. Next morning nice big ring on my antique nightstand. I was heart broken. I Googled and someone had suggested using ArmorAll, yes the same liquid you use to protect the dash of your car. Just pour some on the waterstain and let set for 4 hours. Repeat til stain is gone. It really worked.

To get out many, many stains on clothes try using Dawn dishwashing soap and hydrogen peroxide. Mix them together, I'd say twice as much peroxide as Dawn, pour it over the stain and let it sit for awhile then launder again. It's removed many stains that I've had for awhile and been through the dryer many times.

Not sure if anyone has ever posted this but I saw it on Pinterest and tried it. Heat up 1 cup of vinegar and pour into spray bottle with 1 cup of Dawn dish soap, mix gently and spray on your shower doors or curtain and let sit for a few hours then wipe with wet cloth to remove shower scum that nothing else has ever been able to remove. I also use it for my tub and tile walls and the bathroom sinks...and it shine the chrome beautifully. It makes EVERYTHING you use it on like brand new, I have never seen anything work like this. I also feel good about using it as opposed to "cleaners" because it's just vinegar and soap, I dont worry about any residue that might be left in the tub for my kids bath....although I rinse really well. Trust me this stuff is AMAZING!!

I use ice, salt, and lemon to clean my coffee pots! Just put it all in the pot and swish it around! Gets out stains better than vinegar or bleach.Also on skin burns, I use mustard. Takes the sting right out! I keep packs of it in my purse and first aid kits just in case!

Dishwasher detergent and hot water cleans coffee pot stains easily. Just pour a little powered detergent into the pot, fill will very hot water ,and let it sit until all the stains easily come off. This works just as well as the special coffee pot cleaners, and requires a lot less effort that ice, salt, ect.

For my glass coffee carafe, I simply put it in the sink.sprinkle baking soda on the inside of it and add water. The coffee stains just dissolve,wash as usual. You can do this on the outside also if needed. Add more if needed.

Also a tip on the mascara, if you don't have saline solution(which I never do) I just microwave a cup of water and then place the tube of mascara in it for a minute(do not place mascara tube in microwave while heating the water), the hot water melts the dried up mascara to like new.I also make my own window cleaner in a small 8oz spray bottle, with 1tbs vinegar, 1/2 tbs rubbing alcohol, and fill rest of the way with water. I use any cloth and it always dries streak free.I use white vinegar in my dishwasher instead of an expensive rinse aid.I make my own bleach spray(instead of the expensive anywhere hard surface bleach spray) I add 1 1/2 tsp of bleach to 22 oz of water. I spray my counters, let sit and then wipe.I too reuse my foamimg handsoap containers...I add a small amount of dollar store handsoap fill with water and shake. I spend less than 2$ a month to refill my 3 containers each week with soap.I also use the foaming soap container to stretch my baby bath soap.Also more money saving ideas...get rid of those expensive paper towels by making a one time purchase of kitchen hand towels and use them for cleaning spills, wiping counters, etc. Wash and reuse.No more nasty, smelly, germy sponges, one time purchase of kitchen dishcloths, use then, wash them and reuse again.I make my own bleach paste with a small amount of bleach and baking soda, mixin a small cup to paste like consistancy and spread onto tile grout to make like new.All these tips you have are so great, I love your site!!

Bleach solutions eat away at the o-rings on spray bottles over time, which is why they start leaking/stop spraying properly. To avoid this, don't store your bleach solutions in the spray bottle - transfer them to a well-marked jug or other storage container, and rinse the spray bottle before storing. (If you already have a spray bottle that's not spraying right, use that as the storage container and get a new spray bottle.)

Don't store bleach water -- it breaks down quickly into nothing more than just salt water in a very short time (24 hours or so). 1 tsp of bleach in a spray bottle with water, just make it up when you're cleaning and then dump it out when you're done. Cheap. Easy. Effective! (I got that tip from working in an infant room at an early childhood center.) :)

Everyone, please be careful when you warm up mascara or add anything into the tube... when you apply mascara the wand picks up eye mites and bacteria, then transfers them INTO the tube (the main reason you should NEVER share mascara!)... and we all know that bacteria loves warm, moist places! The mascara tube can become a breeding ground for bacteria! I wouldn't want anyone to get an eye infection!

For pans with baked on food...fill with hot soapy water as you would to normally soak them. Then, add a dryer sheet or two OR a little liquid fabric softener. Let this sit for awhile and the baked on food comes off so much easier!

A tip for the bathroom: I hate having sticky hairspray on the floors, walls, etc. To spray my hair, I step into the shower to use hairspray. No more stickiness in the room! The hairspray washes away with the next shower.

When you have a fresh pee spot or wet spot on carpet, sprinkle generously with salt or baking soda, then leave it for a good long time and then vacuum up it pulls the moisture from the carpet and pad. If you vacuum too early might be wet which is not good for your vacuum, so wait until it is dry, (a good LONG time). Also, if you did vacuum too early, STOP, add more soda or salt and wait. WOrks great!!!

I used to use conditioner to shave until I had a baby and discovered the wonders of baby bath. I love baby bath for shaving. No razor burn and it's already moisturizing so I don't need lotion after shaving.

#3 is a NO GO. We replace mascara after 2-3 months because once it's starts to clump and dry out, it is a sign that there is a lot of bacteria in the tube. If you continue to use it you'll end up with several eye infections. (Telling you this as a cosmetics professional) If you have used this tip, throw out the rest of the contents and refrain from using mascara for at least a week to make sure your eye's aren't infected.

Good call on the mascara tip; it's worth paying a few extra bucks for a new one than to suffer from an eye infection. Besides, with all these other great money-saving tips, you can afford to buy the really GOOD mascara! lol

Mascara: cut 3"-4" inch squares of plastic (i.e., grocery bags, or any similar thin plastic) - wipe the mascara brush with one of the plastic squares before applying the mascara to your lashes. It might seem like you would be wiping all the mascara off the brush but it removes the clumpy pieces and leaves mascara that goes on smoothly. This eliminates using fuzzy Qtips to get those mascara clumps off your lashes.

Also with the cricut mat. Once you have washed off the mats and it's no longer sticky, get Scotch re-positional glue stick to cover the mats again....I used to teach the Cricut class at my local Joanns and this was once of my tips!

This is a great way to get stains out of carpets and works BETTER than any carpet cleaner I have used. Spray the stain with Windex, let it sit for a few minutes and blot it, don't rub it. It may take a couple of times but it works. I have used it on stains that are old and would not come up. It takes them out every time! You will notice after a couple of months they will come back up but it is nice if you are having company over and do not have time to shampoo your carpets.

To clean your dirty microwave, place a mug of water in the microwave and heat for 5 minutes. Then just wipe out the microwave with a papertowel or washcloth. No scrubbing needed! The steam loosens any debris and it wipes right out.CAUTION: Mug and water will be scalding hot when removing from microwave.

I love this trick. I read it some where else and I was at my brothers a while back and he gets out this crazy foam cleaner. I told him this trick and he thought I was nuts until he tried it and it worked so well! Men...lol

I clean and disinfect my sponge by wetting it, putting a dab of dishsoap and microwaving for a minute or two...the sponge steams up the inside of the microwave so I can easily wipe it down, and my sponge is sterilized and smell-free.

I have found that baking soda with laundry soap works wonders on that "oops I forgot about the laundry 2 days ago" mildew smell. Takes the smell right out of the clothes. Busy lives can cause this tragedy on occasion but now it doesn't have to be so bad! ;-)

#18- Do NOT put the car wax on the bottom of the tub. It makes it slicker than anything. Very dangerous. I've put it on the tile around the tub, but I don't put it anywhere in the tub. Otherwise, there are some really good tips on here.

I always keep a spray bottle of bleach water on hand next to the sink and when I am done with the dishes I wipe the sink down and spray with bleach and let it set. While thats sitting I pop the sponge in the microwave for two minutes and when that is done, rinse the sink out.

If you have one, use your George Foreman grill for frying bacon..you can't get the whole package in there, but they cook evenly and flat and the grease drains away! I usually lift the lid and flip them once about 3/4 of the way through cooking. Works like a charm!

I haven't read all of the posts above so please forgive me if I am giving something twice :o)

Candle wax- you can use the same trick as you would to remove wax from your jeans on carpet as well. Just place a towel over the wax spot and iron!! The wax aborbs right into the towel and out of your carpet!!

Stainless Steel- I saw a couple different options of things to use but I actually use a dab of olive oil on a towel to polish my stainless steel appliances!

Rough feet- apply vaseline each night and cover with socks. I personally do this every night during the summer since i wear sandals practically every day and don't want my feet looking all crazy!!! Same with your hands and gloves!!

Removing makeup- Witch hazel!!! Its cheap and works as a makeup remover and astringent!

Funky smelling towels or other laundry- add 3/4- 1 cup vinegar to your laundry! Just pour the vinegar in with your laundry detergent and it removes any foul smelling odor! I usually add vinegar to every load of towels that I wash just in case the towels sat wet and didn't get dried all the way.

Sand- I just learned from another website that you should take baby powder with you to the beach to remove sand!! Apparently you can sprinkle it on your kids legs/feet and it helps dry and remove sand without the irritation!

Smelly garbage disposal- I'm sure everyone knows this one but just in case, add lemons to your garbage disposal to remove any odor!

Sorry, but one more thing!! My cousin is a nurse and I was talking to her about the fact that I had heard that you should wash your infants clothing inside out to reduce the possibility of a hair being stuck around your childs toe! I'm told it can wrap very tightly and almost impossible to remove. She said that actually a lot of people have brought their infants to the emergency room for this very reason. Interesting to say the least!! Anyway, the trick of the trade apparently is to use Nair to remove the hair from your infants toe should this happen! Just thought i would pass it along just in case :o)

Just want to say that the hairspray for ink stains does work. I have used it even to get permanent marker out of a white comforter my mother in law gave us as a gift for our wedding. Spray the hairspray on as soon as you can and let it sit till it's tacky then wash. For especially tough stains (like the marker) you may have to repeat. Using the warmest water the fabric will tolerate helps to open the fibers of the clothes more and make this work even better

if you get your cell phone wet (i mean just a bit of water in the speaker or something along those lines, i can't promise this would be effective if you jumped in a pool with your phone in your pocket,) put it in a bag of plain uncooked white rice overnight and it should help to dry it out!

Hi, I love all these tips and in the comments section too! One more: Do Not use citrus peels to clean out garbage disposals. Was told my an old apt maintenance man that the peels often get stuck in the blades and then rot and smell awful. Instead, throw some ice cubes down there and turn in the disposal. Cleans the blades and sharpens them a bit.

If you get a burn, cut a potato in half and let set on the burn, unless its a severe burn this will take away the burning and will make it so it wont blister. I have done this quite a few times and it works great!

Also, to clean my rings, I put them in a glass of water and drop in one of those denture cleaning tablets. It will fizz up, after it sits for awhile and then just take out your rings and dry them off, they will be just like new.

REPLY BOXES: I read the comment about reading comments in the black reply boxes: I found that if you use your cursor to highlight the comments in those boxes the font will be visible (blue background with white font). Hope this helps.

A tip that worked perfectly for me to cure toenail fungus. Rub Vicks vapor rub on the infected nail twice a day. In a couple of weeks, you will see your nail getting better, and eventually all cured. (my Doctor told me this)

My dad is diabetic and he mixes a Lemon Vicks with an Aloe Vera cream and puts it on his toes. Then he puts socks on before going to bed. Helps take away fungus, yellowing, and if you have any cracks seals the wounds. Can work on finger nails too. If you wear a pair of manicure gloves.

My mom is a nurse and when my daughter was <2, she had icky yellow fungus under her big toenails. Mom recommended dipping my daughter's feet in a bowl with lysterine mouthwash. I did that a few times and she's never had a problem with it again! My mom said that some of the docs she worked with did that... :)

put secret ivisible deoderant on bikini area after shaving or after shaving bald heads and it prevents any razor burn (its the only kind that really works.) I read this in a playboy mag many many years ago, its what the models do the night before a shoot

Olive oil is the best, safest and cheapest makeup remover! Just a few drops on a cotton ball will easily wipe away even thick, waterproof black liner. The ease of removal eliminates the need to tug on delicate under eye skin, and conditions lashes overnight. Started this when a friend told me that Clinique eye makeup remover would eat through stainless steel vats at her work, and I'll never go back. Just avoid using too much- a little goes a long way!

If you happen to be someone who uses your coffee maker for coffee and for tea (such as college students), you know how the flavors for each beverage seems off sometimes. Pour red vinegar into the coffee maker and let it run through then pour the full amount allowed (12 cups for mine) of water and run through. Do this twice. It gives your coffee maker a nice cleaning and takes old flavors out of the mix for you. :)

Another tip for getting odors out of clothes is to pour sprite into the wash with the clothes it takes the smell right out! I used to work at Wendys and my clothes smelled terrible the Sprite was the only thing I found that worked!

You have GREAT ideas! A few I have heard but most are new to me. I am very appreciative so I would like to share something that I have not told anyone yet. I use and old cleaned mascara brush not only for combing my eyebrows but to clean eyeshadow off of my eyelashes before putting mascara on them and also the best when you get mascara on your skin and try to clean it off and wipe half her make-up off don't worry that old mascara brush will take it right off with a little rub. Thanks again.

Does anyone have a suggestion that is not abbrasive to plumbing pipes? When I clean the makeup off my face, if I use a cleaner with oil in it (I live in a very dry climate, so need the moisture) it eventually clogs the drain. I'm not really crazy about using drain cleaners that are full of chemicals. Thanks!

Tip #1- The best weed killer that I have found is regular old white vinegar. Get you a bug or weed sprayer from WalMart, Lowes, or Home Depot, Pour your white vinegar into your sprayer, and spray your weeds. The next day your weeds will be dead. CAREFUL AROUND GRASS it will kill it to, but if you are perparing your yard for your garden, this is a natural way to get rid of weeds without having to break to break your back.

Tip #2- I don't know about your house, but durning the summer everyone seems to be at my house ALL summer long. Some weekends we can up to 30 people here. Well its easy to throw hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill, but my stove only has for burners. And how do you manager to feed all these people you ask. Well 1st every adult throws $5 into the food and drink pot, and then I go to the store. But durning the summer corn on the cod is always SUPER cheap. If you take your corn, go ahead and shuck it, throw it all into a big igloo cooler, then take 2 off those BIG chili like pots (my grandma used to call them stew pots) full of bowling hot water and cover the corn completely inside the cooler (you may need to adjust water amount to the size and amount of corn to your needs.) Close the lid to the cooler. Come back in about 30-45 minutes, and Wha-lah perfectly cooked corn on the cob.

For weeds, you can also use pickle juice. When our jar of pickles is empty, the kids fight over who will take it outside to kill some weeds with it. The vinegar in it kills them & most of us pour it out anyway!

These are fantastic! My great grandmother used to get rid of our splinters by using the sticky part of a band aid, putting it over the splinter, and sending us to bed. The next morning the splinter came out when we took the band aid off. She also used vinegar to help cool and heal burns, any kind of burns, and since I was a very pale little girl the smell of vinegar and sunburns are now permanently linked in my mind!

I found the most amazing truly green cleaner. It cleans grease like nothing I've ever seen before. It kills ants and keeps them out of the house. It cleans my stainless steel and leaves my appliances shiny better than anything on the market. If you have a coffee pot that has the grungy look, just put some diluted biogreenclean in the container, swish and it will shock you how clean and new the receptacle will look. Once I got toner (from my copier) at work on my favorite white sweater - I sprayed it with biogreenclean and it took out the toner completely. The product works indoors and out. My husband says "I'd do a commercial for this product. It's amazing." I agree! The MSDS (material data safety sheets) list all the ingredients and it is completely natural. The company sends me a weekly newsletter with ideas from readers. I've thrown out nearly every chemical in my home and primarily use biogreenclean. LOVE it!

To get wine stains out from your clothes or carpet you immediately boil water and as soon as it has boiled you pour over the surface of where the stain is and it will start to disappear. I like to do this a few times just to make sure everything is gone because once you wash and put in the dryer the stain will be there for good.

you can also USE WAX TO GET THE WHITE HEAT STAINS OFF(hot coffee mugs etc.) WOODEN VARNISHED TABLES.

you take a white candle, make the wax melt on the spot with a lighter, then get a white linnen napkin or an old white t-shirt and go over it with an iron on LOW temperature in little circles until you see the grease is gone and the white spot to! it worked with our very old wooden tables that were full of white stains.

you can also USE WAX TO GET THE WHITE HEAT STAINS OFF(hot coffee mugs etc.) WOODEN VARNISHED TABLES.

you take a white candle, make the wax melt on the spot with a lighter, then get a white linnen napkin or an old white t-shirt and go over it with an iron on LOW temperature in little circles until you see the grease is gone and the white spot to! it worked with our very old wooden tables that were full of white stains.

Welcome to my crazy life!Come along with me as I attempt to navigate the crazy life of a wife, new mommy, professional cheapskate, DIY-er, and teacher

I'm a wife to the hubs and a mama to the bean. A lover of sweet tea and pajama pants. A wanna-be photographer and world traveler. A black and gold football junkie. Cheap at heart, with expensive taste. Spend my days chasing the man-child, DIY-ing my dreams, and keeping a lid on my sarcasm. This is my crazy life, welcome to it.